Page 309
2
that it is not possible, by 1st April, 1956, to make a thorough review of the scales, including many decisions on differentials, on which their members are far from united.
6. There may therefore be a gap, the responsibility for which will rest with the teachers, between the coming into force of the Superannuation Bill and the increases in salaries. As the Cabinet heard on 20th December, some Conservative Private Members have put down an amendment designed to give the Minister power to postpone the date of coming into operation of the Bill (C.M. (55) 47th Conclusions, Minute 1). An Opposition amendment seeks to postpone the date until 1st April, 1957. The Cabinet will no doubt wish to consider how to handle these amendments in the light of what happens in the Burnham Committee.
Ministry of Education, W.1,
D. E.
29th December, 1955.
APPENDIX
Primary schools and secondary modern schools are mainly staffed by non-graduates, trained in teachers' training colleges; grammar schools by university graduates. The following tables show the changes that have taken place in the salaries of these two representative classes of teachers.
2. The tables relate to men teachers. Women teachers will draw the same salaries as men when the introduction of Equal Pay has been completed by 1962. Out of 240,000 teachers employed in schools, 146,000 are women.
""
3. Apart from envy at the rise in industrial earnings, there is a grievance because the "concertina of the teachers' scale has been compressed. The maximum basic salary which a teacher can earn has fallen behind its pre-war value. Allowances over and above the basic scale are paid to approximately one-third of the teachers in service, including Heads of schools.
MINIMUM And Maximum Salaries of MEN'S BASIC SCALES SINCE 1938
I.--Non-Graduate (Trained for 2 Years in a Teachers' Training College)
Percentage increase on 1938
*Average weekly earnings in industry.
Percentage increase over October 1938
Salaries
Minimum
Maximum
Minimum
£
£
Maximum Per cent. Per cent.
1938
180
366
April 1945
300
525
66.7
43.4
76
April 1948
300
555
66-7
51.7
94
April 1951
375
630
108-3
72.1
132
April 1954
450
725
150.0
98.1
187
October 1955
1954 scales still apply
219 (est.)
The teachers reach the maximum of the scale after 15 years, at the age of 35–37.
II.-Good Honours Graduate (University Degree Course Followed by a Year of
Training for Teaching)
Percentage increase on 1938
Minimum Per cent.
*Average weekly earnings in industry.
Percentage increase over October 1938
Salaries
Minimum
Maximum
£
£
Maximum Per cent.
1938
249
480
April 1945
345
585
38.6
21.9
76
April 1948
375
645
50.6
34.4
94
April 1951
471
726
89.2
51.3
132
April 1954
576
851
131.3
77.3
187
October 1955
1954 scales still apply
219 (est.)
The teachers reach the maximum of the scale at the age of 37-40.
*Ministry of Labour. Average weekly earnings of operatives in manufacturing and other
allied dpindustries in the United Kingdom.
Page 309